Every time I add boxes or shredded paper, I cover them with leaves. Soon the available leaves will be covered with snow, however. When the snow comes, I am going to try to pack it down, and maybe add some water, to create steps so that I can more easily reach the higher pile, as it will quickly climb once snow is added to it.
Because I have added a bunch of leaves to it, as well as more boxes buried in the leaves. Pretty soon, the lawn is going to be covered by snow and the leaves will be no longer accessible so I have to add them all now. Once the snow comes, there will be nothing to cover the boxes, paper bags, and shredded paper with but more boxes, bags, and shredded paper - and snow. The cardboard along the edges, because it stays cold, won't be very quick to compost, so that will help to hold everything else in place.
Have you ever broken down boxes more, or you just toss them in? What are you going to do with the boxes when the snow comes?
No. Depending on what's in them, the raccoons sometimes do, though. Besides boxes, I sometimes toss paper bags full of compostables in there so it's a mixture. I seal the boxes with paper masking tape to discourage animal predation because these are the things that keep me from having to turn my piles over. Since the boxes compost at much slower rates than the loose materials, they create air pockets within the compost pile. I'll keep piling them on top. While the temperatures are below freezing, some composting will continue in the center of the pile if I started it early enough, as I think I did, but the stuff I throw on top during the winter won't compost. In fact, snow will accumulate in layers every time it snows, and the pile will be quite large by spring. Then, as the snow and ice melt, it will sink considerably. My compost pile would be more successful if I were to buy a bale or two of hay to add to the pile during the winter since green compostables will be in short supply, but I don't have anything to haul hay in, and the smaller volume stuff carried by the Tractor Supply Store is kind of expensive, and I'm boycotting them anyhow.
It's a personal boycott. I won't be shopping at any business that enforces the governor's mask mandates. The Tractor Supply Store is a particularly easy one because, although I liked the place, they don't sell anything that I can't get elsewhere without a mask. Other than them, the grocery store is the only place in town that requires it, and that's only to get in the door. Once inside, a lot of people take them off or lower them. They weren't even requiring that until a couple of weeks ago. It's a little harder to boycott the only grocery store in town.
When I went to pick up my Jeep I had my mask on and the owner asked me what was I doing with it on and told me to take it off. Note: I used to work with him for several years. Anyhoo, he shared with me his take on the pandemic. Imagine you're in a small boat in a big ocean. That boat had a hole in it. What happens he asked. It's going to sink, of course. Right. My thought was I would drown, that's what he said to me. Mask or no mask we are all going to get this virus. We are all in a boat with a hole in the ocean. He said God doesn't want us to have fear. That was the first time I ever heard him speak about God. So I won't be wearing a mask at his place of business again.
Since I am not including as much meat in my compost, although some invariably finds its way into the bags and boxes, the raccoons haven't been ravaging my compost pile much this winter. Most of the bags and boxes have remained unopened. Besides boxes, I use paper grocery bags and paper leaf bags, which are sealed with masking tape.
Looks like the backyard of a rogue mail carrier. "...and that's why Sally's Barbie Doll won't be found under the tree this Christmas." I need to try my hand at this again, but as I stated before, the right volume of greens to maintain the recommended ratios is not readily available. I could get it after mowing my acreage, but I'm not motivated enough to rake up my grass. I'm going to be ordering some gravel for an area behind my garage. Maybe I'll get more for the compost area...overgrowth was another reason I stopped.